Ulster County NY Real Estate

A final phase of a three-year Department of Transportation and Land Use Project has yielded some recommendations to alleviate traffic in New Paltz and to promote smart growth. Anyone who has tried to get through Main St. in New Paltz on a busy fall weekend or during rush hour can attest to the need to take measures to alleviate the congestion. The panel recommended traffic roundabouts at key trafic sites and establishing a one-way portion of Main St. Widening Main St. was clearly not an option because it would entail tearing down buildings along the main thoroughfare.

New Paltz Town Supervisor Toni Hokanson pointed towards the Ohioville, South Putt Corners, and Cherry Hill neighborhood areas as places that might be able to accomodate future growth. She also pointed to an area on Rt. 32 South, to the south of the SUNY New Paltz Campus. On 32 North, she sees the potential to re-zone an area from the Salvation Army to Shivertown Road for mixed business high density commercial and residential use.

Suggestions to ease traffic also included making a connector road from South Putt Corners Road to Rt. 32 in order to give an alternate route to SUNY. A shuttle running from the I-87 Park and Ride to the village area was also mentioned as a possibility. The citizen advisory committee will finalize its recomendations on November 9th. The town and village of governments will then vote to accept the findings and make a determination on implementing some of the recommendations.

Voters in Ulster County will have the choice on election day to decide the fate of propositions to protect and preserve open space in three towns. New Paltz, Gardiner and Marbletown each have a proposition to borrow money to purchase development rights on private land to protect water supplies, farms and wildlife habitat. The town of New Paltz is proposing a $2 million bond, while Gardiner and Marbletown are proposing a $1.5 million bond.

According to a US Census Bureau report Ulster County showed a new resident growth rate of 2.7% over the last five years. A large concentration of the new resident growth occurred in southern Ulster County. New Paltz added about 1,000 new residents, followed by Plattekill with a 9% increase and Gardiner with an 8% increase. The other southern Ulser County towns of Shawangunk, Lloyd and Marlborough contributed an increase of 3,645 new residents. Growth in southern Ulster County can be highly attributed to close proximity to commuter routes to job centers in New York City, Westchester, Rockland, Orange and Dutchess Counties.

The northwestern Ulster County towns of Denning and Hardenburgh showed the least amount resident growth in Ulster County. Kingston, Woodstock and Rosendale also had only slight increases.

You may be wondering what the Nest Egg Index is. Published by A.G. Edwards, it consists of a survey of individuals in 934 community regions in the US. After the survey data is compiled each region is rated on their investing and personal savings behavior. Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown was ranked #45 and Kingston, NY ranked #110 on the list. Communities are ranked based on 12 statistical factors, including participation in retirement savings plans, personal debt levels and home ownership. In 11 of the 12 categories, Kingston rated above the national average. The amount of home equity factored heavily into Kingston and Poughkeepsie’s high rating.

A new law was introduced at a recent Kingston council meeting that would require notifications to be sent to neighbors when a piece of property is to be re-zoned. This would include notification to owners of parcels to either side of the property being re-zoned as well as those across from the parcel being re-zoned. Members of the common council approved it on first reading, however a second reading on the proposed law, a public hearing and a vote will take place at the council November meeting.

The statistics released by the Ulster County Board of Realtors for the month of September 2006 reveal decreases in most statistical figures that measure the strength of the housing market when compared to September 2005. There was a 31.1% reduction in the number of homes sold, a 7.5% reduction in the median price ($239,500) and a 2.6% decrease in inventory. The average days on the market for homes listed in the MLS increased 12.2% to 166 days. Despite these September figures showing a clear slowing in the market, there have been higher year-over-year home price average in 9 of the last 12 months.

Appreciation is still very healthy in Dutchess and Ulster Counties, although it has decreased from record numbers achieved two years ago. According to a report from the FDIC, the Kingston area showed 10% home price appreciation in the second quarter of the year, compared to a high of 21.5% in the third quarter of 2004. The Poughkeepsie area had a slightly lower level of appreciation in the second quarter with 8.4%, off of 18.5% in the third quarter of 2004. Kingston had one of the most healthy job growth rates in New York state in the second quarter at just more than 1%. Overall, the trend of more moderate home price appreciation continues.